Mindful Self-Care
Brandywine School District -- October 2019
Treating Yourself Through Mindfulness
I'm thankful to be back in the Brandywine School District, specifically focusing on Forwood and Carrcroft Elementary. Below are some ideas and resources for treating yourself through mindfulness. October is a long month in the education world, so it's even more important to make time for yourself so we can be our best selves for our students and families.
Please reach out if you have any questions. Grateful to be here with y'all.
James Butler
Educator/Author/Mindfulness Specialist
Mindful Classrooms
Self-Care Resources
Self-Care Has To Be Rooted In Self-Preservation, Not Just Mimosas and Spa Days by Lizzo
5 Activities for Mindful Self-Care
Gratitude Journaling--Research shows that having a gratitude journal/writing letters of gratitude can improve self-esteem, reduce stress and more. I've personally started writing letters of gratitude and testing my heart rate before and after. On average, I take about 20 minutes to write the letter and my heart rate goes down an average of 7 beats per minute after writing my letter of gratitude. So cool! Give gratitude journal/letters a try.
Color/Draw--Coloring has been proven to reduce stress and increase creativity. Read about it here. You can also purchase the sweet SEL Coloring Book that I wrote, illustrated by my friend and fellow Clevelander Becca Borelli. Link at the top of this page. Drawing or doodling is also a great way to reduce stress. Check out this cool video for different drawing/doodling ideas. I especially enjoy it because drawing is a growth area for me. :)
Exercise--Run, swim, walk, yoga, basketball, soccer, dance, etc. Moving the body is awesome and connecting our breath with our body is empowering. There are many proven physical benefits of exercise, but did you know about all the mental health benefits? Check them out! Google and YouTube have a ton of resources. I'm a fan of Yoga With Adriene.
Mindful Eating--Slowing down to eat our food can help us have greater appreciation of our food and even help us process our food better. This article from Harvard explains mindful eating further. A simple strategy I used with my students was to start snack time with 30 seconds to 1 minute where we noticed our food with all of our senses starting with sight, touch, smell and then taking a bite and noticing taste and the sound. Chew that bite all the way until the food is completely gone until taking the next bite.
Mindful Breathing--Our breath is amazingly powerful. There's an article titled, "Your Breath Is Your Brains Remote Control" and I think that's a perfect way to describe it. Below you'll find access to free subscriptions for educators to Stop Breate Think, Calm & Headspace. Over $1,000 in value and they're giving it away for free to educators!
Stop Breathe Think--Free Lifetime Subscription
Calm--Free Lifetime Subscription
Headspace--Free Annual Subscription
Headspace recently came out with their own FREE subscription for educators. Click the link to sign up.
Resources for the Classroom/School
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain
An Edutopia blog written by Elena Aguilar. "Zaretta Hammond's new book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students, fills a huge gap in my bookshelf. Hoping to get it into your hands and onto your shelves, I decided to do a Q & A with the author."
Mindfulness Research
Mindful Schools also has a great page on their site that outlines mindfulness in education research.
Trauma-Informed Mindfulness Article
Mindful Classrooms Published!
Mindfulness In A Jar
SEL Coloring Book
**Available in Spanish too!
Check out Mindful Classrooms for more resources.
Mindfulness in Austin ISD Videos
Mindful Brain Free Download
Sustainable Mindfulness
Cultivating Mindfulness for Educators Using Resources From The New York Times
How to Avoid A Poorly Designed School Mindfulness Program -- Mindful Magazine
Making Mindfulness Work in Your School -- Free webinar from Free Spirit by James Butler
Making the Case for Mindfulness in Your School or District -- Free Spirit Publishing blog by James Butler
Mindfulness Book List
Letter to Families
Here's a letter about mindfulness you can share with families. It provides a brief description of mindfulness and a message from Austin ISD Superintendent Dr. Cruz supporting mindfulness in schools.
Feel free to edit this to personalize for your school/district.
The letter is available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi/Dari & Burmese.
Multilingual Mindfulness
Want mindfulness activities in Spanish, Arabic, Farsi/Dari, Burmese, Swahili & Kinyarwanda? We've got them for you!
Zen Den YouTube Playlist
The "Zen Den" YouTube playlist offers 18 videos, ranging from 4-8 minutes in length.
Mind Yeti: Connecting Mindfulness w/ Explicit SEL Lessons
Mindyeti.com is a great resource that connects mindfulness with Second Step lessons, and it's FREE!
GoNoodle
GoNoodle is for the body and the mind.
Here is a link to a document that lists all the GoNoodle Mindfulness videos sorted by channel and with the length of each video.
De-Escalation Strategies Poster
This poster can be an addition to your classroom, Peace Area, hallways, Mindfulness Room, etc.
Mindful Life Project
Guided Mindfulness Activities in English & Spanish--Great for Secondary.
They also have a free app titled "Mindful Life Project."
Videos Explaining Mindfulness
Support from Mindful Classrooms
James Butler, M.Ed.
Teacher, Author, Founder
Mindful Classrooms
Austin ISD SEL Mindfulness Specialist
2014 Austin ISD Teacher of the Year
Email: james@mindfulclassrooms.com
Website: mindfulclassrooms.com
Facebook: facebook.com/mindfulclassrooms
Twitter: @mindfulclassrms